Thursday, February 23, 2017

Mosul Campaign Day 129, Feb 22, 2017

The Iraqi forces’ (ISF) statements either by officers or
even official ones have become so unreliable that they cannot be trusted unless
pictures are posted on social media or a western reporter confirms them. For
example, on February
20 a police major told Bas News that the Rapid Reaction Division was
attacking the Ghazlani camp on the outskirts of southern Mosul. On February
21, a source told AIN that the camp had been liberated. February 22, the Joint
Operations Command officially announced that the Rapid Reaction Division and
Federal Police were assaulting the facility, and moving onto the Mosul airport
as well. In fact, they did not do either of those until February
23. The ISF has a poor record on reporting on the facts of their
operations. Towns have been declared freed before the ISF even arrive, or when
they are first attacked, or when there is still shooting going on. This is due
to the government’s victory narrative that the ISF are constantly winning. That
explains the above statements and others like them since the war started in
2014. The problem is the Iraqi forces are advancing and they are winning yet
they can’t stop exaggerating. Ghazlani is going to be taken, so why say it is
before it actually happens?

What the police forces were actually doing on February
22 was solidifying their positions in the town of Abu Saif, which they just
freed the day before. They were building defensive berms, and preparing to take
Yarmouk, which is just north of Abu Saif, and then attack Ghazlani and the
airport. Coalition air
strikes were softening up those areas. 480 people fled Yarmouk to Abu Saif.
They told
the Iraqi forces that there were hardly any Islamic State fighters ahead of
them, so they should move forward. Overall resistance has been very light so
far on this front.

Hashd forces in the west were on the offensive taking two
towns and attacking another. IS launched
a number of counterattacks with car
bombs and suicide bombers. The main goal of these units is to cut the road
between Mosul and Tal Afar to try to button up Islamic State fighters within
the former.

More importantly, the United States admitted
that its advisers had taken fire and been wounded. No details were given, but
the Americans said that its forces had been travelling with Iraqis at the front
and suffered casualties as a result. This is part of the new Trump
Administration’s policy of increasing its participation in the war against the
Islamic State.

Everyday the militants are bombarding east Mosul with
drones, mortars, and rockets. The press is covering fewer and fewer of these
incidents, but that doesn't mean they’re not happening. The only casualties reported
were 5 killed and 3 injured from a drone. Just as disconcerting was the fact
that IS put up leaflets
in a neighborhood telling people to leave otherwise they would be considered
targets and be killed. Many IS members slipped into the civilian population of
the city to hide, while others were a stay behind force to sow mischief. The
ISF is trying to hunt them down, but there are increasing complaints about
their heavy handedness, which might turn the population against them. At the
same time, IS threats and intimidation are working towards the same goal. This
could lead to a very dangerous and unstable situation once all of Mosul is
taken.

The Golden Division, which did most of the heavy fighting in
east Mosul, has not entered the fray yet, but they are about to. General Abdul
Wahab al-Saadi from the Division said
his forces would join the battle soon. Columns of their vehicles have been seen
moving from the south. Beforehand, all of the news was of them launching a
frontal assault across the Tigris River. IS spent a lot of time and effort to
build up its defenses along the riverbank as a result. This was all part of a
psychological campaign to deceive the militants and put their fighters along
the Tigris when the new front was coming from the south.

To add to the psychological operations the Iraqi air force dropped
thousands of letters from Iraqis over west Mosul. The ISF has done this before.
It’s meant to bolster the morale of the population, which are suffering major
shortages. At the same time, it undermines the control of IS over the people.

Save
the Children had people call their relatives who were in west Mosul. One
said his family had no food or water. They were afraid that starvation would
set upon the city during the fighting. Some people were going door to door
begging for food they were so desperate. Another said there was no health care
available. One person said their family members had tried to escape, but were
caught and executed with 20 others. Just getting in contact with family has
become harder as IS has confiscated phones and killed people found with them.

Various small armed groups have been fighting the militants
for months now inside Mosul. On February
22 Kaitab al-Mosul said they shot and killed two senior IS members and
ambushed a patrol. These organizations do not pose a military threat to the
Islamic State’s control, but they undermine their authority and show that not
everyone in the city was a sympathizer as some have argued.

SOURCES

Al-Aalem, “Fourth day of military operations in West Mosul:
The destruction of three booby-trapping facilities and killed 20 Daash,”
2/22/17

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About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com